Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Jennifer Affleck Speaks Out About Marriage After Backlash

On Wednesday, the MomTok influencer shared a lengthy post on Instagram, in which she praised her husband for “always” supporting her during the ups and down of their marriage.

“We were just kids when we got married. Young, naive, and inexperienced, we truly had no idea what we were getting ourselves into,” Jen began in the caption of the post, which featured a carousel of photos of her and Zac through the years. “Coming from completely different backgrounds, families, and upbringings, it didn’t seem to make sense. We were polar opposites. How could we make this work? How could we see the same picture? We didn’t always see eye to eye, and a lot of times, we still don’t. But that’s what marriage is, we keep trying. I truly believe there were lessons we both needed to teach each other.”

“When we were dating Zac bought me my first laptop when he had $10 in his bank account. When I shared my dream of running a marathon, he trained alongside me and ran it with me. I told him I wanted to start my videography business, so he saved up money and bought me my first camera,” she continued. “When we were expecting our first baby, I wanted a place to call home, so he worked hard, saved up, and bought us our first house. He gave me both stability and freedom, which allowed me to post videos online and launch my career on social media. This, in turn allowed me to support him and our family while he’s been in school. I couldn’t have done it without Zac.”

Jen added, “Is Zac perfect? No. Does he have flaws that we’ve needed to address. Yes. But I can confidently say he’s always supported and believed in me more than anyone else.”

The 25-year-old admitted that she and Zac have dealt with “struggles” in their marriage, but they’re “willing to put in the work.”

“We’re still young, we have two precious babies, and we still have struggles like so many marriages,” she wrote. “But do we love each other? Yes. Are we willing to put in the work to be better? Yes. Have there been moments when we wanted to walk away? Of course. But there’s so much more to our marriage and what we offer to each other than people realize.”

Jen concluded, “Thank you to everyone who has shown us so much love and support, whether you know us personally or not. No matter what the world may say, I truly believe that God knows what’s best for me, my family, and my marriage. ❤️”

Despite her lengthy post defending her husband, fans weren’t buying it, with the comments section of Jen’s post being flooded with viewers continuing to criticize Zac and how he treated his wife on the show.

As fans can recall, Jen and Zac’s marriage woes came to light in Episode 6 when the ladies — along with Zac and Taylor Frankie Paul’s boyfriend Dakota — went on a trip to Las Vegas, during which costar Jessi Ngatikaura surprised the girls with tickets to see Chippendales. Zac was extremely upset with his wife, and his nasty reaction to Jen even considering going to the show not only raised eyebrows among the MomTok group, but with fans as well.

Zac went off on Jen, sending her scathing text messages, in which he exploded on his wife and made a series of disparaging and insulting remarks. As Jen said in the episode, Zac questioned her character and threatened divorce. She added he made it feel as if she cheated on him, told her he was “done” and “won’t be married to someone without values and morals” while threatening divorce.

Speaking with TooFab ahead of the show’s premiere, Jen said she and her husband are “great” now, thanks to the work they’ve put in after filming.

“I feel like since the show ended, we’ve been doing nonstop therapy, and so at this point, I really feel like we’ve healed from everything and we’ve been completely vulnerable and honest,” she shared. “It definitely needed to happen. It’s definitely helped us in so many ways. And I think at this point, it’s only just exposure therapy.”

Meanwhile, during the finale of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Jen and Zac had a conversation about possibly leaving Utah for Zac to go to medical school out of state, with Jen even proposing her husband take a year off before he starts medical school.

“We also just found out that Zac got into medical school in New York, which was one of his top dream schools to get into,” she explained in a confessional. “Medical schools are super hard on marriages, so it makes me question if going to medical school is worth it.”

“Jen called me and she goes like, ‘I just wanted to tell you my version of things and what’s going on,'” Jessi recalled to costar and fellow MomTok influencer Demi Engemann. Jen told me that she’s leaving MomTok because of Zac.”

Also during the final episode, it was revealed that Jen was leaving MomTok, noting that it was because of Zac.

“He doesn’t want her associated with us,” she added. “I am really sad that this is just a continuous pattern that’s not getting better.”

In the wake of the first season, it was unclear if Jen and Zac were still living in Utah or were moving to New York for Zac’s medical school.

Last week, Jen posted a video on her TikTok and Instagram that featured herself and her husband in New York City lip-syncing to Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens’ High School Musical 2 duet, “Gotta Go My Own Way.”

Over the clip, Jen wrote, “Us everytime I tell him I want to move back to Utah.” In the caption, she went on to add, “Are we moving back or staying? Stay tuned to find out.. @secretlivesonhulu.”

On Wednesday, PEOPLE reported that Jen and Zac had sold their home in Orem, Utah in late August.

All eight episodes of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives are now streaming on Hulu.